August 28, 2004

Roundup of the week S-league

August 24, 2004 Queenstown

TPUFC	3	3	Woodlands Wellington
Haris Sumri 16’ Benoit Salviat 20’ Ballamodou Conde 82’			Ratna Suffian (OG) 17’ Kim Eun Cher 85’ Masrezwan Masturi 87’

The Jaguars threw away a 2 goal lead in the last 5 minutes of the game to see themselves only coming away with 1 point when it could easily be 3 points. It would have been the Jaguars best run of the season as they have already won the last 2 matches.

It was a result which neither suited both teams as the Jaguars could not pulled away from the other 2 teams in the bottom & the Rams dropped down to fifth overtaken by the Swans ending any hope they have to finish in the top 3.

August 25, 2004 Bedok

Geylang United	1	2	Balestier Khalsa
Winston Yap (OG) 59’			Roniwardi Mamsa 53’ Igwe Iroha 55’

The Tigers climbed up to eighth in the table after defeating the Eagles 2-1 at Bedok.

The Tigers are on equal points with Jaguars but have a better goal difference & both are 3 points ahead of Sinchi. However both have vast inferior goal difference to Sinchi.

August 25, 2004 Tampines

Tampines Rovers	2	1	Home United
Ismail Fitrey 53’ Fauzie Amin 87’			Aide Iskandar 30’

In the match that was billed as the ‘match-of-the-season’, Tampines Rovers defeated Home United in front of a capacity crowd present at the Tampines Stadium to open up a commanding 4 points lead at the top of the table with 3 games left to play

As it was a 6-pointer match in which the loser would end up as runner-up both teams went at each other right from the kick-off forcing referee S Kennedy to dish out the first of 5 yellow cards of the night to Home defender A Siva Kumar after the latter brought down Stags striker Mirko Grabovac. Just a few minutes later, Azhar Salleh became the first Tampines player to be booked after he impeded Peres Oliveira inside the Stags’ half.

It was therefore no surprise when Protectors Adil Sharin saw red but one must question the referee if it was warden especially considering the importance of this match. Rafi Ali received the ball in midfield and as he tried to control it, Adil Sharin came from behind & hacked Rafi down. S Kennedy applied the rules of the books and sent Adil Sharin off, amidst strong protests from the Protectors.

Despite being a man down the Protectors showed their championship form & pin the Stags in their own half & before the half-hour mark went ahead. Mustafic Fahrudin bundled Peres near the corner flag & from the resulting free kick, Sutee bended a nicely weighted ball into the danger area. The Stags’ backline stood static as Aide Iskandar leapt the tallest to nod the ball into the net.

The Protectors continued their dominance of the Stags after taking the lead & had several chances to increase their lead. It was a relived Stags which went into the break.

Emerging from the break, Tampines Rovers finally made their numerical advantage count when Ismail Fitrey equalized. Fitrey, who was only playing because of Noh Alam Shah’s suspension, received the ball just outside the box & unleashed an unstoppable shot towards the goal. Sean Roberts got a hand to the shot, but could only divert it against the crossbar and the ball bounced into the net. The equalizer sent the crowd wild. As Fitrey ran towards the bench to celebrate the goal with his teammates, Sead Muratovic urged the crowd on & the crowd responded with loud cheers and frantic flag-waving.

Neither side truly dominated proceedings after the equalizer

With 8 minutes left, Stags’ Coach Vorawan Chitavanich made a tactical substitution that would have significant bearing on the result of the game. With Ismail Fitrey looking jaded, he took him off and sent in 21-year-old Fauzie Amin.

Fauzie Amin may not be a household name as of yet, but his contribution for the Stags certainly turned the tide of the S-league title race. Protectors keeper make a crucial error when he threw out a long ball out of defence & it was stolen by Nazri Nasir allowing the Stags to counter-attack on the Protectors defence which was not prepared for it. Nazri Nasir orchestrated the move as he found Aliff Shafaein with a clever ball into the Protectors’ box & Aliff took the ball towards the byline before drilling in an enticing cross across the face of the goal. Fauzie Amin then came charging in &bundled the ball across the line to give the Stags the lead.

After the full time whistle, Tampines players celebrated wildly and acknowledged the fans that were present to support them. Their first ever title is now surely within their grasp.

August 26, 2004 Jurong East

Albirex Niigata	2	1	Sinchi
Ryuji Sueoka 65’ Issey Nakajima 73’			Zhou Yi 33’

The Swans climbed up to fourth with a shot at the top 3 after defeating Sinchi 2-1.

The Swans have now won 5 of their last 7 games drawing 1 & losing 1 to collect an impressive 16 points out of 21 points & net week they faced third-placed Young Lions at Jalan Besar looking to close the gap between them down to 3 points.

August 27, 2004 Choa Chu Kang

SAFFC	0	5	Young Lions
			Farizal Basri  30’, 65’, 80’ Baihakki Khaizan 38’ Shahril Ishak 57’

The Warriors hope of finishing in third place took a battering at their home ground Choa Chu Kang when the Young Lions whacked them 5-0. It came just after a week after the whacking by the Protectors when they were thrashed 1-8 at Bishan.

Playing without the suspended Nenad Bacina their defence was a mess as Daniel Bennett could not hold the defence together.

Therefore the Young Lions took advantage with Farizal Basri hitting his first-ever S-league hat-trick.